AI’s Hottest New Job Pays Up to $250K a Year. So I Applied. | WSJ

Prompt engineering—getting the best answers of a generative AI chatbot like ChatGPT—is a new type of job. Large language models helped create this new role that can pay up to $250K. But what kinds of requirements and skills does it take to become a prompt engineer?

WSJ’s Joanna Stern applied for the position at a New York-based AI startup called Hebbia.

Chapters:
0:00 AI taking away and creating jobs
0:48 Prompt engineer, explained
2:05 Crafting good prompts
4:20 Is this the future?

Tech Things With Joanna Stern
Everything is now a tech thing. In creative and humorous videos, WSJ senior personal tech columnist Joanna Stern explains and reviews the products, services and trends that are changing our world.

#AI #ChatGPT #WSJ

[Makes_me_wonder]

Prompt engineering probably won't become a standalone job, just a skill that employees are expected to have.

[somedayitsgonnamakesense]

companies today want you to have 5+ yrs experience in Prompt Engineering to begin with

[bvssrsguntur]

What did I learn: Joanna Stern is the best of the journalists and I would always watch her editorials because she is best at dumbing down to my level.
By the way, I too did prompt engineering course, tried applying and got a rude awakening that I need to learn 90% more or maybe 99% more!

[XShollaj]

The worst misleading one can get - no one will pay you to ask questions to a chatbot. You need to know at the very least core development work & machine learning - and even then you would be competing with PhDs with multiple years of experience for "Prompting" positions

[kcdiazWTV]

I wanted to apply for a junior prompt engineer job but the company was asking for minimum 5 years experience.

[bobbab]

I just can't imagine how prompt engineer is a job for any longer than maybe 2 years as we transition into using gen ai across organizations. Plus, at $250K salary there is a huge incentive to make that role obsolete.

[yijiequ]

who else agrees that Joanna Sterns videos are always informative, at the same time, entertaining, those few minutes are gone so fast!

[deeprajgame]

As a Software Engineer, I see great value in this information. Developers incorporating prompt-based adaptation gain an extra skill, boosting productivity and enabling the creation of high-quality software at a rapid pace. While it may not become a standalone job profile, it certainly adds to the expanding skill set of developers.

[magispitt]

Love this reporter, the content is always clear and concise.

[davidmacgown]

This sounded great until I learned the job is located in NYC. Between taxes, Rent, and the cost of living that 250k would be equivalent to 50k.

[alex_smallet]

At least Joanna can still keep her WSJ job.

[profmerlinpants]

This is best explanation to prompt engineering. In the future, we might not need Joanna but instead she will replaced with a full on functioning Joanna AI.

[olwenpuralena]

Coursera!!! Awesome platform :) used it to change careers myself back in 2016/2017.

[LordOtorai]

How to write solid prompts -

Clear Objective:

Start with a clear and specific objective. What do you want the language model to do? This could be answering a question, generating text, or providing explanations.

Context:

Provide necessary background information. This helps the model understand the scenario or the specific context in which the question is being asked.

Specificity:

Be as specific as possible in your request. Vague prompts can lead to vague responses. If you have particular requirements or constraints, mention them.

Examples (if applicable):

If your prompt is complex or you're looking for a specific style or format, provide an example or describe it in detail.

Politeness (Optional):

While not necessary, being polite in your prompts can make the interaction more pleasant.

Brevity:

While providing detail is good, try to be concise. Unnecessarily long or convoluted prompts can be harder for the model to parse effectively.

[jaelee]

This job is gonna pass in a year or two

[drickzee]

I always enjoy watching Joanna's videos. They are always informative, interactive and entertaining at the same time.

[BoolrVids]

Software engineers would be naturals at this; solid Googling skills are integral to a productive software engineer

[circuloviciosamente]

I think the main thing we need for a good Prompt is to understand very well the problem we are working on. Then, with practice, we will get along with those Chat bots

[Eoin-B]

The following prompt is incredibly useful. I didn't create it, but it's invaluable to me and my colleagues and even my father uses it in a totally different field. It creates a back-and-forth to keep narrowing the scope of what you are truly looking to convey to the LLM for your perfect answer:

"I want you to become my Prompt Creator. Your goal is to help me craft the best possible prompt for my needs. The prompt will be used by you, ChatGPT. You will follow the following process: 1. Your first response will be to ask me what the prompt should be about. I will provide my answer, but we will need to improve it through continual iterations by going through the next steps. 2. Based on my input, you will generate 3 sections. a) Revised prompt (provide your rewritten prompt. It should be clear, concise, and easily understood by you), b) Suggestions (provide suggestions on what details to include in the prompt to improve it), and c) Questions (ask any relevant questions about what additional information is needed from me to improve the prompt). 3. We will continue this iterative process with me providing additional information to you and you updating the prompt in the Revised prompt section until it's complete."

NOTE: One big warning is to always ask it for the source of real-world examples or statistics you request but VERIFY IT always in Google AND the source link it gives to make sure it's not from an unreputable source.
It makes up real-world examples and sources fairly often. They are called hallucinations and you will embarrass yourself if you don't.

[HaseebHeaven]

Joanna as Prompt engineer hilarious 😂 she explains very well how this tech is going on